Looking for some anis.

On April 25, 2026April 12, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography7 Comments

I was watching the pelicans diving for fish in late December. I got to Fort Desoto Park right at sunrise and stopped at the beach before heading to the woods to look for some birds.

Two rare birds had been hanging out here for several weeks. The above is not one of them. Starlings are common here but he looked pretty shining in the sun.

A grooved-billed ani and a smooth-billed ani were hanging out together near the bay pier wooded area. I saw them both briefly but was only able to get shots of the smooth-billed one before they both took off over the trees. They aren’t very attractive but they are cool birds anyway. Both were not new birds. The only time I saw a grooved-bill was in 2011 and there was a smooth-billed one here back in 2017.

After seeing the anis I went for a walk on the beach to look for shorebirds.

Plovers were plentiful including the black bellied plover and piping plover above. The piping plover was missing his feet and I’ve seen him several times at the park so he must be doing okay.

Looking across the lagoon, reddish egrets were feeding when a fish jumped out and made a big splash. They were both like “Where did it go?”.

As I was leaving the park I saw something black flying across the road so I pulled over and realized it was the anis in the berry bushes. The smooth-billed one was out in the open and I though he was going to eat the berries but he was just fanning himself.

This was the only shot I got of them both (one in the top left and one in the far right bottom). The grooved-billed ani seemed really shy compared to the other one. They are still at the park, several months later.

I made a quick stop at Crescent Lake Park on the way home to see if the white pelicans were there. Only a handful were hiding in the shade under the big banyan tree.

The only winter ducks that had showed up so far were a few lesser scaup. I checked back here weeks later and there were tons of white pelicans so more on those later.

Watching the birds catch bait fish

On April 11, 2026April 14, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

On Christmas eve I made my usual trip down to south St. Pete to the Bay Pines National Cemetery to visit my parents. I didn’t stay long and it was such a beautiful day that I decided to swing by the beach on the way home to stop at one of my Dad’s favorite places, the Seaside Seabird Sanctuary.

This rescue, rehabilitate and release sanctuary sits right on Indian Shores Beach. They also house many permanently injured birds. It looks like it was feeding time.

A couple of quick videos of them feeding. It was funny to watch the white pelican stick his whole head in to get the fish. Then the snowy egrets said “Hey, I can do that too!”.

They were catching live bait fish in the tubs.

Pretty faces. Most of the pelicans are missing a wing or eye.

A wild night heron hangs out hoping for a free snack.

A shot of the view from the deck on the way to the beach.

Diving for breakfast

On January 26, 2026February 5, 2026 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

More sunrise shots from my visit to Fort Desoto Park in October.

Zooming in with my camera I could see some barges out in front of the bridge.

When I first got to the north beach I saw 2 white pelicans floating in the lagoon. There had been hundreds here a few days before but this was all I saw on this morning. Two more flew by right before the sun was up over the trees.

Shorebirds in the sunrise.

Brown pelicans were diving for bait fish far off the beach. It was funny to watch the laughing gulls trying to steal the fish from the pelican’s beak.

A Cooper’s hawk flies overhead, scaring and flushing the shorebirds.

After leaving the beach I stopped by the Arrowhead trail to peek out across the water and I could see the tons of white pelicans far off a spoil island. They were hiding there this morning instead of feeding in the lagoon off the beach.

Boat traffic along the water.

Linking to Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday) at Image-In-Ing.

Looking for shells

On May 26, 2025June 6, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography5 Comments

Above is the proper technique for shell hunting. While my sister and her husband were in town we headed out early for a walk at Honeymoon Island to look for shells.

I had not been out on this beach since last summer and it was a beautiful cool morning. The north beach area had just opened back up the week before after being closed for 5 months due to the hurricanes from last fall.

The mangrove bushes on the beach had been stripped and there was a lot of big dead wood pieces.

Someone had started a shell tree.

A big jellyfish in the shallow part.

We made it almost to the north end before heading back. It was quiet this weekday morning and little chilly so there wasn’t a lot of people out. I’m sure the beach looks much different today. Since it’s Memorial Day there’s a packed crowd and we usually stay away from the beaches on summer holidays.

Royal terns and laughing gulls were trying to stay out of the wind.

White pelicans flying over.

A quick video of the white pelicans cruising high over our heads.

We worked up an appetite and had lunch at a nearby local seafood place before heading home to rest up for our big afternoon on the ferry (more to come). My sister got a big bag of shells and managed to fit it into her carry-on bag to take home.

Linking to A Stroll Thru Life.

White pelican close ups

On April 19, 2025May 11, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

I made it back to Crescent Lake Park near downtown St. Pete in mid-January. I remembered to bring my camera with me this time because I was pretty sure the white pelicans were still there. They wouldn’t stay much longer if the weather warmed up.

A handful were swimming around in the middle of the lake.

A lot of them were still hanging out under the big banyan tree at one corner of the lake where the pipes come out. I’m assuming because of the shade from the tree (although it was cloudy the morning I was there) and the fact that the tree area is fenced off to keep people off the damaged old historic tree so there wouldn’t be any people letting their dogs get close to the bank.

A cormorant flies by.

Eventually most of the pelicans made their way out to the middle of the lake.

A ring-neck duck came close to the edge.

A ring billed gull was also close.

Two male grackles were having a conversation on the ball field sign. They might have been fighting over a lady or both showing off for one.

Pelican Island and an alien baby

On March 29, 2025April 10, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography1 Comment

I made a trip up to Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park (an hour north of Tampa) in mid-January. It’s a fun place to walk around and see wild manatees and lots of different Florida wildlife. It’s more of a refuge or home for permanently injured wildlife. A lot of injured pelicans call it home and live on a small island along the river that runs through the park. I was walking on the boardwalk and was surprised to see a baby pelican this early in the season. This pelican couple built a nest right up against the boardwalk so I was trying to get shots of the baby eating in between the slats. Mom had just coughed up a partial eaten fish for the baby and the baby was having a tough time getting it down. The baby couldn’t be more than a day or two old. It was still blue and purple and partially hidden under Mom.

Nearby, other pelicans were mating or sitting on nests.

One last look at the alien looking baby as he was trying to figure out how to gulp that piece of fish down. The area is not enclosed so when the babies here grow up they can freely leave.

White pelicans were also flirting and working on nests.

They are cool looking birds with those blue eyes surrounded by yellow and an orange beak. That horn near the end of the beak is like a fingernail and only grows during breeding season and then falls off.

This pelican had a droopy wing. Many are missing a wing or an eye.

Wild black vultures hang out in the trees above the boardwalk. They come down to steal snacks (bait fish) when the pelicans are being feed. There was a dead vulture on the ground and a pelican was guarding it from the other vultures. He was standing over it and wouldn’t let the vultures get near it. A ranger came and got the dead vulture. It could have been sick (hopefully not bird flu) or died of old age.

I spent the morning at the park and took a lot of pictures so more to come on this trip.

A busy morning walking in St. Pete.

On March 17, 2025March 7, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography4 Comments

Near the end of December I headed down to St. Pete to look for white pelicans that spend the winter at Crescent Lake Park. I hadn’t heard that they were back yet so I didn’t take my big camera. I just brought my phone to take a walk around the lake.

Of course they were there (and my camera was not so these are all with my phone). Many of them were hanging out along the bank and were pretty close to the sidewalk.

There were also a lot of them swimming around the lake in small flocks.

A short video of them swimming to the bank. At first I thought there was going to be a territorial fight but they all got along. I did make it back here a few weeks later with my camera so more on the white pelicans later.

After my walk around the lake I headed over to nearby North Shore Park to visit some of my favorite trees along the beach (this is on the bay). The tall palm tree on the far right in the 1st picture lost it’s top in the hurricanes.

It was a super low tide which is normal for late December. The low tides in the winter are crazy here.

The tiny pier building looked so far away from here.

The rare great tailed grackle is still hanging around the park here. I first saw him in 2023 so he must like it here. People still come from all over to see him. He should be living on the western part of the country.

Linking to A Stroll Thru Life.

A stop at Swan Lake on the way home

On April 27, 2024April 16, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography1 Comment

While my sisters were visiting in late February we drove over to Disney Spring early for some shopping (mostly looking though and getting a good walk in) and lunch. We decided to break up our 2 hour drive home by stopping at Lake Morton (aka Swan Lake) in Lakeland and get out to look around. There were only 2 baby swans from a black swan couple but there were a lot of nests.

Redheads and ring neck ducks are easy to find in the winter. There were several that were swimming close to the edge of the lake.

A young ring billed gull sits on top of one of the swan food feeders that sit on the edge of the lake. He looked pretty with his matching pink feet and beak.

The usual skittish wood ducks were coming close to the edge of the lake as well. One walked right up on the grass in front of me.

Balance act.

The small pod of white pelicans were still there, napping and preening on the brick wall.

The pink trumpet tree was in full bloom.

A 3 stop morning

On April 20, 2024April 17, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography3 Comments

I was on my way to Crescent Lake Park but stopped at nearby North Shore Park first to get a glimpse of the sun coming up over the bay. It was a beautiful morning in late January but also chilly and there wasn’t any birds on the beach.

I saw the white pelicans right when I got to Crescent Lake Park. Only about half of them were still there and I was thinking they would be gone before I made it back down here again. Luckily a few of them were right at the edge and I was able to see them close up.

I stopped at the Safety Harbor fishing pier on the way home. It was cloudy when I first got there and I saw the above common loon far out in the bay. A little later when the sun came back out I was hoping to get a better shot of him but I couldn’t find him again.

Brown pelicans were diving for fish and the laughing gulls were right on them when they came up with a mouthful of fish hoping to steal some of the fish.

Later when I was editing the pictures I realized one of the pelicans had a big scrape on his head. I went back out there the next morning but didn’t see him. He might have hit it on the pier if he was diving too close. I heard that happens to them at the Sunshine Skyway fishing pier.

Zooming in on Tampa across the bay.

I saw these horned grebes from far away and waited forever for them to get closer. They seemed to be heading towards the pier as they went under to get the fish. The few times I had seen them before this winter at the pier they were like little pin dots far out in the middle of the bay so I was glad they were getting closer. I haven’t seen them again since this visit.

Orange and white at Crescent Lake Park

On March 30, 2024March 21, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

This was way too easy. I had heard there was a Baltimore oriole that has been hanging out near the ball park at Crescent Lake Park for weeks. It was the end of December and he was a little late for fall migration. I walked down the sidewalk towards that end of the park and saw a flash of orange in the trees. There he was, hopping around looking for bugs high up. After snapping several pictures I headed over to the lake.

Across the pond I could see some white pelicans under the big banyan tree.

They were hiding in the shade so I kept going to the other end of the lake.

I found four feeding at the other end of the little lake. They would all take off together and just barely fly a little ways and do a little dip. They did this for a while

At one point it looked like they were coming straight for me.

I watched them feeding for a while. It was pretty cool how they did it all in unison.

They eventually started making their way back to the other side of the pond where their friends were hanging out. It was a fun morning watching them in the cool sunny weather. If only the weather would stay like this all year round.